FREE Email Newsletter

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Electronics Science and Technology Division, dive into underwater photovoltaic research to develop high bandgap solar cells capable of producing sufficient power to operate electronic sensor systems at depths of 9 meters.

We all fall for them. The allure of buzzwords and hot topics captures our attention and appeals to an optimistic nature for all things that will make our world better. However, they can also lead us to fall for the hype instead of focusing on credible, real-world applications. This leads into our discussion of the smart grid.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has long been a valuable tool for asset management, allowing objects to be identified, tracked and/or located. Limitations in the accuracy of passive tag systems along with high tag and battery maintenance costs in active systems have limited the adoption of RFID in broader applications.

The smart grid has been a topic of vigorous discussion and intense design and marketing activity for many years. As the smart grid evolves, virtually every supplier of technology is rushing to produce solutions that fit into this complex puzzle. If we strip away the automation and novelty products we are left with one key question...

Your home and office contain a host of technologies working to improve the way you live. From monitoring energy intake and usage, to controlling your appliances and lighting, ZigBee is a protocol that is changing the way we live – and in some cases, we don’t even realize it.

A planned $5 billion transmission line to send power from wind farms off the East Coast cleared a hurdle, allowing the Google Inc-backed project to move to the next step in the approval process, officials said. The Department of the Interior declared on Monday there was "no overlapping competitive interest" in proposed areas for building the line off the mid-Altantic coast.

As with every new technology, delivering LTE chipsets presents many technical challenges. Performance, power and price are key concerns. Higher data rates, such as LTE Cat4with up to 150Mbps download speeds, require very high performance computing, which is achieved mostly through higher clock rates...

Earth Day is our favorite holiday around the UW EcoCAR 2 lab. From our standpoint, this time of the year encourages people to celebrate the ways in which they can help reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. We will be showcasing our team's EcoCAR 2 efforts alongside the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition at the Earth Day festivities put on by the University of Washington.

The ERG Lighting division of Endicott Research Group, Inc. is now offering the SLD, XLD and XLA Series of LED drivers from GRE Alpha Electronics, Ltd., Gainesville, GA, a specialist in the design and manufacture of solid state lighting power supplies for architectural, signage, retail, office, street and LED strip lighting.

The government wants you to install solar panels at your house, and will even give you a tax break to do it. But your neighbors? Maybe not. It's a lesson Angel and David Dobs discovered when their homeowners association north of Atlanta denied their request to install solar panels on their roof.

Energy Micro today introduced two feature-rich starter kits (STKs) for designers building more complex battery-powered products such as portable health and fitness devices and smart accessories. Based on the already available EFM32 Leopard Gecko and Giant Gecko microcontrollers...

ON Semiconductor has introduced a new series of switching buck regulators for space-constrained, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) sensitive automotive entertainment and infotainment applications. These highly integrated devices offer industry leading conversion ratios for battery connected switch-mode power supplies.

Renewable power generation technologies based on solar and wind are usually discussed in terms of photovoltaic arrays and very large land- and sea-based turbines. Behind these very visible physical structures that can encompass many acres sit the optoelectronic components that provide the galvanic isolation...

CUI announced the addition of a 1 A surface mount series to its highly efficient V78 dc switching regulator line. The V78XX-1000-SMT is designed as a high performance alternative to linear regulators, offering efficiencies up to 92%. This is in contrast to efficiencies typically ranging from 40~60% in equivalent linear regulators.

Government incentives that encourage investment in renewable energies will continue to drive technological advances in the global semiconductor market, a new report by semiconductor expert GBI Research has found. The new report* found that government incentives and Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) are providing vital, worldwide support...

The average price of photovoltaic (PV) wafers in the first quarter of 2012 fell by more than 70 percent in a year according to the latest research released by IMS Research, which was recently acquired by IHS. This dramatic price collapse, caused by a global oversupply, has significantly changed the cost structures and strategies of leading PV module suppliers...

Global solar PV installations will grow by at least 3.5 percent and up to 21 percent in 2012, according to a new report from IMS Research, recently acquired by IHS Inc. The market analyst firm forecasts that despite incentive cuts in most of the world’s largest markets...

Tantalum polymer capacitors -- widely used for more than 15 years -- have benefited from significant increases in CV and reductions in ESR. However, due to the maximum achievable breakdown voltage (VBD) of such capacitors...

ZigBee has become the dominant utility-requested protocol for home energy management applications, and the growing need for residential demand response programs has increased the level of interest in ZigBee and its outgrowth Smart Energy Profile...

The demand for projected capacitive (PCAP) touch panels is growing at a rapid rate. The increased durability and enhanced look and feel a PCAP touch panel provides can benefit a wide variety of products. The all glass construction allows for increased optical clarity...

Over the last few years momentum has been rapidly building behind the development of a new generation of LED technology-based street lights. Promising a much longer service life and higher power efficiency than existing technologies...

Industrial automation manufacturer Opto 22 is sponsoring eSight Energy's U.S. "Energy Management Road Shows," a series of live events exploring the role of power monitoring and energy analysis in improving building energy efficiency.

The global market for power semiconductors used in LED lighting is forecast to reach over $3 billion in 2016, according to a new report from IMS Research, a leading independent provider of market research and consultancy to the global electronics industry.